The Tracy Pride II
by Samara13
Summary: Jeff can't cope with John taking the care of his brothers. How will he react when he sees John again? Bad summary, I know...
1. Chapter 1

Jeff Tracy was sitting in his chair in his dark office, staring at the black monitor screen. It was now half past eleven. He could hear Virgil telling someone he was going to bed.

How on earth could I have missed that? Jeff thought. Why didn't they just tell me about that?

Must he tell his sons of what he heard? And how should he do that?

Suddenly he felt a huge anger coming up. Before he knew it, he had hit the table with his fist out of anger.

"Dad, are you okay?"

Jeff turned around to see one of his sons looking at him in the door.

"Yes, thanks Virgil, I just saw a fly".

Virgil raise an eyebrow and looked at his father for a few seconds. "Well, I'm off to bed, good night dad."

"Night son."

Jeff watched how Virgil turned around and went into the corridor. He sighed deep and laid his head in his hands. He remained in this position for fifteen minutes and was disturbed by one of his other sons.

"Hey dad, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Jeff rubbed his eyes before looking to the door again.

"Of course Scott, tell me everything what's on your mind."

Scott stopped halfway the office with a confused face.

"Okay..." He said. "It's about that new engine mechanism on Thunderbird 3."

"Thunderbird 3...I thought your Bird was called Thunderbird 1." Jeff said with a smile.

His oldest son always put his nose into the business of his brothers, even if it's about their Thunderbirds. Scott took a chair and sat down next to his father.

"Brains gave me this diagram..." Scott begun.

Jeff looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Okay, Brains gave Gordon this diagram which I lend from him without asking, but with good intention."

"Go on."

"I've noticed that if we would decrease this, Thunderbird 3 could make much more speed and would win much more height in less than half a minute."

Jeff looked at the diagram but didn't really pay attention to it.

"Scott, I think it's better if you let Brains have a look at this, tomorrow. Now go to bed, I talked to John this morning and he says there is a storm heading towards Japan so we might get a call this night."

"Okay dad, sleep well."

Jeff only nodded and watched how his son walked out of the office. He spend the rest of the night thinking of how to deal with something like this.


	2. Chapter 2

John was sitting on his bed. It was now six o'clock in the morning. John rubbed his eyes and stretched himself. He'd fall asleep at two o'clock and had been awake at four. He had spent the remaining two hours staring at the ceiling.

He stood up and walked to the shower. Maybe some cold water could wake him up.

John was just putting on his gloves when he heard the incoming call. He rushed to the monitors to see that the call came from Thunderbird 3.

"Thunderbird 5 here".

"Hey John, thought you'd be still asleep."

"Gordon, you're up early, what are you doing in TB 3?"

"Dad asked me to pick you up."

"Why?" John asked confused. "And so early?"

"Yeah that's what I said." "But he told me to stop asking questions and get going." "He said to tell you to bring that starbook of yours."

John gasped and sat down in his chair. That's impossible! He thought.

"John, are you still there?"

"Yes I'm here."

"My ETA is in about twenty minutes."

"FAB Gordon." John said just before the microphone light went red.

John sat in his chair, frozen. Calm down John. He thought. There's no chance dad could have heard you last night. Perhaps he has a sudden interest in stars…

After a light panic attack John realised Gordon could show up any minute and started packing. He put his little book at the bottom, well hidden between some of his other books. John threw his two bags next to the hull when he saw the red rocket approaching.

"My god, you look awful!" Gordon said when he walked in.

"You don't look so pretty either." John said when he tried to hoist the two bags over his shoulders.

"Let me have one."

John handed the lighter of the two to his brother, the one that didn't have the little black book in it.

"Dad woke me up at five." Gordon said when he and John took the front seats of Thunderbird 3.

"I still don't see why this couldn't wait 'till after you had lunch."

"Me neither, but he looked really tired and somewhat….confused." "Guess we'll see what's wrong when we get home."

"Yeah, I guess…" John mumbled.

Their trip back home didn't go very quiet. Gordon almost fell asleep a couple of times, making John get a heart attack 'cause Gordon had the main control. After the fourth time, John took over.

"Wake up sleepy head."

John gave Gordon a push against his shoulder.

"W…what, what's wrong?"

"We're home."

"Oh great, I can go back to bed."

They both made their way out of the rocket and each took a bag out of the storage space.

Everything was quiet when they walked into the kitchen. It was obvious their brothers were all still asleep.

Gordon and John decided to put the bags in the corridor to not wake Scott.

"So, aren't you going to bed?" John asked when he sat at the kitchen table.

"Aren't you?"

"No, I think I'll have an early breakfast."

"Okay, good night…or morning or…what ever."

John smiled when Gordon left the kitchen, but that smile disappeared the very second Gordon was out of sight. His father was around here somewhere, probably in his office. John stood up and dived into the fridge to discover his favourite pack of apple juice.

"I still don't know how you can get that stuff down your throat."

John turned around to see his older brother standing in the kitchen door. He made a little smile.

"And good morning to you Scott."

"What are you doing down here?"

"Dad told Gordon to get me down here this morning, you didn't know?"

"No I didn't get any of that."

Scott walked to the coffee machine to make himself some.

"What are you doing out of bed at this time of the day?" John asked.

"Gordon fell over your bags in the corridor, scared the hell out of me."

He sat down across John and took a sip of his coffee.

"He was acting strange last night."

"Who, dad?"

"Yeah, I was showing him the diagrams of Thunderbird 3 and he didn't even pay attention to it."

"That's nothing like dad."

Scott silently agreed and took another sip of his coffee.

"What's nothing like me?"

Both John and Scott jumped up and threw their drinks over them. Luckily for Scott, his coffee wasn't that hot anymore.

Jeff looked at them through the garden door. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you kids."

"That's okay." Scott said.

"John, did you bring that book I asked for?"

"Uh yeah, which star do you want me to look up for you?" John asked while he and Scott cleaned their shirts at the sink.

"Just put it on my desk if you want." Jeff said when he walked out of the kitchen.

"What was that all about?" Scott asked.

"I have no idea." John lied.


	3. Chapter 3

John was walking through the corridor for almost half an hour now. He had put the book on his fathers' desk and waited in the living room until his father had disappeared into the office. He should be finished reading it by now…

"What are you doing all nervous?"

Virgil walked to him with a curious look on his face.

"Nervous…I'm not nervous." "Why should I?"

"Well anyway, we're going to play some volleyball, want to join?"

John looked at the office door for a moment.

"Are you waiting for dad?" Virgil asked.

"What…no not at all." "Volleyball sounds great."

"There they are!" Scott shouted when Virgil and John walked on the beach. "Gordon, Alan and me against you two, okay?"

All of them agreed and the game begun. It didn't take long for Scott's team to defeat Virgil and John, which was very unusual.

"What's with you today?" Virgil asked mad when John tripped over his own feet and landed in the sand.

John didn't respond. His head was still with his father and the little black book. At that moment, the alarm of all five wrist watches went off.

"Duty calls." Scott said when all of them hurried to the house.

"Probably that storm in Japan." Virgil said.

They reached the office in less than two minutes.

"What's wrong dad?" Alan asked while they all took their place.

"A bridge collapsed in Idaho while there was a lot of traffic on it." Jeff said.

John didn't listen. His eyes were focused on one of the books on the desk. It hadn't moved from where John put it.

"John did you hear me?"

He looked up to see his father's eyes on him.

"No sorry, dozed off a sec." He apologized.

"Alan and Scott take Thunderbird 1 and the rest of us get into Thunderbird 2, did you get it this time?"

John nodded. He stared to his feet while the elevator took him to the silo, a thousand things were running through his mind and yet he couldn't get focus on any of them. The elevator stopped and the giant green Thunderbird appeared in front of him.

"Do we have a plan?" Gordon asked when he took the seat at the left.

"We have to see what it looks like before we can make one." Virgil said in the left front seat.

Their father took the other front seat, leaving John the right passenger seat. They already could hear the engines of Thunderbird 1 roar.

"Right boys, let's save the day." Jeff said.

Virgil started all the pre-flight checks and soon they too were in the sky. It took them fifteen minutes to get to the scene.

"Doesn't look good dad." Alan said through the microphone. "There are two school busses trapped on the bridge."

"What are we going to do?" John asked.

"I can go down with the platform and take the children up." Gordon said.

"That would take a while." Scott said through the microphone.

"It's the only thing we can do I'm afraid." Jeff said.

Gordon stood up and walked out of the cockpit. John could swear his father caught his eyes for a sec.

"Okay Virgil, lower the rescue platform." Jeff said. "John, make sure it doesn't go down too fast."

The two boys followed their father's orders and soon Gordon came back up with the first load of children.

"There must be another way dad." Gordon said through his wrist watch. "There like fifty children in each bus, I can only take eight at a time with me."

"Virgil, we can try and use the magnets from Thunderbird 2 to hoist the busses up and drop them off on land." Scott said.

"No Scott, those magnets aren't strong enough." Virgil answered.

"Thunderbird 1 can support them from beneath…"

"That might work." Virgil said while looking at his father.

"Okay let's do it." Jeff said. "Gordon, stay with those children in the storage."

"FAB dad."

"John, can you try to get the magnets on the left bus, I have to straighten Thunderbird 2."

"FAB Virg." John said.

John looked on his screen to get a right angle. "Okay, here it goes."

He pushed the little black button next to the screen and the two magnets were shot out of Thunderbird 2. Both of them hit the bus on both sides. John let a sigh of relief. He, Virgil and Jeff watched how Thunderbird 1 hovered next to the bus.

"Ready Scott?" Virgil asked.

"As always."

The Thunderbird 2 slowly took more height. All of the passengers were holding their breath as one of the busses came loose form the bridge. Thunderbird 1 gently flew beneath the bus and supported it from beneath.

Virgil, John and Jeff could hear Scott give Alan some directions.

"Which side of the bridge do you want to let them down Virgil?" Alan asked.

"I was thinking about the left side, that's a bit shorter."

A few minutes later, the first bus was back on land and the second bus was flying into the same direction. All went well, until Thunderbird 1 made a sudden movement.

"What the hell are you doing in there?" Jeff shouted into the microphone.

"Sorry dad, forgot about the wind." Scott apologized.

"Pay attention, I don't want to jump in the water to save you." Jeff said mad.

Everything went quiet and both John and Virgil looked at their father.

"Uhm dad, I think Scott can save himself from water…" came Gordon's dry reply through the microphone.

Jeff didn't respond, instead he took a quick look at John. John sighed and looked to his screen again, feeling the eyes of Virgil in his back head.


	4. Chapter 4

An hour and a half later, the Tracy family was back on the island. All the children were safely dropped off at the nearest hospital, some of them had minor injuries like little scratches but nothing seriously.

Scott and Alan were investigating some small damage on Thunderbird 1 and Gordon and Virgil were floating around in the pool. John was in his room, walking around nervously.

Why doesn't he want to see me? He thought. But if he does, what am I going to tell him?

He rubbed through his hair with both hands and fell on his bed. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"I haven't seen you this nervous since your final exams."

John opened his eyes to see his older brother in front of him. "I wasn't nervous for my exams."

"O please, you had to pee like every two seconds." Scott said with a smirk on his face. "You were even sleepwalking with your books in your hands."

He jumped on Johns bed as well. "I mean, even if you would have failed them all, you'd still graduate!"

John smiled. "There's nothing wrong with some healthy nerves before your exams."

Scott nodded. "So what's bothering you now?"

"Nothing."

"Liar."

"I'm not lying!"

"Yes you are, like the time you had an broken arm on vacation, but you didn't want anyone to know 'cause that would ruin the whole trip, remember?"

"Yeah but that was years ago, we're adults now…or at least I am."

Scott laughed and stopped trying to get John talk. "Do you think dad knows by the way?"

"Knows what?"

"About me used to be afraid of water…"

John took his time to pick out the right words. "Why would you think that?"

"It's what he said at the end of the rescue." "About not wanting to jump after me to save me or something…"

At that moment there was a knock on the door and Alan appeared. "Dad wants to see us in the office."

"Why?" Scott asked.

Alan shrugged his shoulders and continued his way to the office. Scott got of the bed and walked to the door.

"You're coming?"

"Yeah be right there." John said.

Panic was running through his mind. His dad was going to tell his brothers about the book…he was so dead.

John was the last to get in the office. He took a seat next to Virgil on the right side of the room. Jeff was standing at the head of the table, his face was emotionless.

"Is something wrong dad?" Gordon asked.

Jeff didn't answer but kept looking at all of his sons one by one. After a few minutes he finally started to speak.

"Yesterday evening…I have overheard something which I never had expected from any of you."

Without further explanation, Jeff took the book and started to read it out loud. All of the boys looked at each other with big eyes, all their faces turned red, except for John. He just looked out of the window with no expression in his eyes. After half an hour, Jeff was almost finished.

"_My case with "The Tracy Pride" begun with three words: "Thunderbirds are go."_

"I didn't know how to deal with this."Jeff said. "But I have accepted that all of my sons rather go to my second born instead of me with their fears."

Scott was about to react on that when Jeff rose his hand for silence.

"What makes me even angrier is the fact that that second born didn't tell me about it and is ashamed of what we do!"

John didn't look at his father, or anyone in the room. He was sure everyone watched him, but he kept staring out of the window.

"It isn't like that." He said almost whispering.

All the other Tracy's started to back John up with their own statements and Jeff had to shout to get silence again. Gordon immediately rose his hand.

"Yes Gordon?"

"So we did tell John about all that instead of you, but we're grown up now dad, we don't need to tell you everything."

"My guess is that you were about twelve in Johns story." Jeff said looking down in the book.

"Dad, John just happen to be there with us at those times." Scott said. "He helped us overcome these fears, so I don't see what the problem is."

"The problem is: Why didn't John tell me about that, I'm your father for god's sake!"

"We asked him not to." Virgil said.

Jeff sighed and sat down in his chair. "John, prepare to go back to Thunderbird 5 this evening."

John got a quick look at his father and left the office without a word. Every single one of the Tracy's would have smacked the door as hard as they could, but John gently closed it with a little click.

The rest of the boys looked at each other, not knowing what to say or do.

"Dad...what exactly do you want to hear from us?" Alan asked with a small, careful voice.

"I want a reason why you did trust John with this...and not me."

Scott rubbed his nose. "I think that's because John is..."

"Almost the same like mom." Four voices said as one.


	5. Chapter 5

John threw his belonging in his bags. His heart was still racing even though he was out of the office. He had been so close to shouting to his father.

So I can't take care of my brothers huh? He thought when he emptied the drawer on his bed. I have to tell him every single thing they tell me? So far for brotherly trust!

He could feel the tears sting in the corners of his eyes. God he missed his mother! She never involved between the five of them. If something was wrong, something they needed her help for, she always knew when she had to come.

It were just fears…John thought. Not like a life threatening decease or something. I've dealt with all four of them.

There was a knock on the door and John swiftly got rid of the tears.

"Come in." He said.

Jeff opened the door and closed it behind his back.

"Thought you could need some help."

"No I'm almost done."

Jeff took a look at all the clothes on the bed. "I can see that." "Look John, I know you didn't want me to hear you last night."

John didn't respond but kept throwing his clothes in his bag.

"I've talked to your brothers and I'm sorry I got mad with you."

"I can understand that." John said with his ever calm voice.

"That's something that divides you from your brothers." Jeff said with a smile. "You never get mad."

John swallowed. His heart was racing faster than ever. "That I don't shout at anyone doesn't mean I'm never mad at someone."

Jeff didn't see that coming. "Who are you mad at now?"

John let out a shivery sigh. "You don't think I can take care of my brothers."

"No, I think that was just a tough burden to bare for you."

"But I did!" "I did bare it and I can still!"

Jeff looked at his normally self-controlled calm son. This was the very first time John shouted at him.

"I know, I just didn't want you to have to do that."

"I have to and I don't care." John said lowering his voice.

Jeff started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" John asked getting mad again.

"They were right."

"About what?"

"You are exactly like your mother."

For a moment John just starred at his father. He didn't know what to do. A part of him wanted to crash into his father's arms and tell him about fears of his own, but the other part of him just wanted to get out of the room as quick as possible.

"Your mother had the same need to look after all of her kids, by her own." "Of course she had to since I had to spend so much time at work…"

Jeff paused for a sec looking at John who was looking at the ground.

"Anyway, one night I asked her if the five of you never got tired of having the same person around you to watch over you five and you know what she told me?"

John finally looked at his father. "No…what?"

"She told me that she never really had to watch over you, she just let you all be and trusted upon you to come to her if something was wrong." "And that worked out fine."

John stared at the ground again. "At least she knew us."

"I know that you all are grown up now." "Even Alan doesn't need me anymore."

John looked how Jeff sat on the end of the bed. "Guess it isn't easy, watching your kids grow up so fast."

"Don't get me wrong I am the proudest father in the entire world."

Jeff sighed deep. "Just promise that if you think I need to know something, you'll tell me."

"Of course I will dad." "Same goes for you."

"I know John, I know."

The End

Hope you enjoyed


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